the other seemed
to vie with each other in the effect they produced upon me; but, great
as the pain of the father was, the sufferings of the daughter, perhaps
as peculiar and touching as any that could be conceived, engaged to
the greatest extent my sympathy. It was my duty and wish to try to
remove the fundamental cause of all this suffering; and I waited the
end of the paroxysm of the father's sorrow in order to resume the
conversation.

"These views," said I, as he calmed, "which you take of life, and its
duties and affections, are all false and distorted. It is our duty to
try to regulate our thoughts as well as our actions by some steady
supporting principle, which mankind have agreed in considering as
true, whether it be derived from the direct Word of God or from the
written tablets of the heart. The taking away of our life--originally
given to us as a trust, or imposed on us by the Author of all good,
for certain ends and purposes which are veiled from our view--is
undoubtedly in many respects, as regards God himself, ourselves, our
children, and our neighbours, a great, flagrant, horrible crime. It is
against the law of God, the law of our country, the organic law of our
physical constitution, and the moral law of our minds. It is indeed
the only act that can be mentioned that is against _all_ these. It
does not require me to tell you that suicide, with other murders, was
denounced by God himself, speaking in words that all mankind have
heard, from the 'thick cloud' that hung over Mount Sinai. You are, I
presume, a Christian, and the Sacred Book containing that denunciation
lies at your side; and yet you have made the dreadful confession to
me, that you have dared to meditate on the breaking, the despising,
the contemning of the command of Him who by less than a command--ay,
than even a word, by the lifting up of his finger--may consign you to
an eternity of agony, in comparison of which all the sorrow you now
suffer is less than a grain of sand to the sandbanks of the sea."

"It is true, it is true!" replied the unhappy man. "I know, I _feel_
that every word you have uttered is true, maist true and undeniable as
are the sentiments o' this holy book," grasping again the Bible; "but
can ye--wha, by the command o' books and education, can dive farther
into the nature o' the mind than ane like me--explain this mystery,
that, when my soul is filled wi' the darkness o' sorrow, and my
rebellious purpose o' self-mu